


Wine and flying mistletoes

by PerriewinkleNerdie



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novel)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:01:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21731254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerriewinkleNerdie/pseuds/PerriewinkleNerdie
Summary: Alone Christmas is not how she wanted. Thankfully, maybe she won't have to be on her own.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32





	Wine and flying mistletoes

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello, hello!  
> Christmas writing is fun, pass it on :D   
> Enjoy! <3

Christmas always reminded her of her family. How her father would come home from work with a perfect tree and then spend the next three hours figuring out the right place for it and then another two, tangled in strings of colorful lights. Her mother was in the kitchen, baking and cooking, laughing at the face her husband made when the lights were placed on the tree but just weren’t working, driving him mad. Claire left her childhood home when she decided to move to the US and study medicine there. It wasn’t an easy decision, given the fact that she was living right in the middle of Europe, and the flight to New York took 12 hours on the plane. She thought about it, long and hard, before finally deciding to do it, having full support of her family.

Her friends decided that they either decorate their apartment right, or they don’t do it at all, so by the end of the previous night, lights were hanging around the ceiling, a tree was standing by the window and a few candles adorned the free spaces, giving the room a soft glow when they were lighted. Not to mention the smell, spreading the warmth in every room.

Claire came home earlier than the rest of her friends, changing into the most comfortable clothes she had, preparing herself for the workout that would be baking and cooking. She was the only one of her friends that wasn’t going to visit her family for Christmas, as she was living too far away from them and she didn’t have that much money saved up to go back any time she wanted. Instead, she was staying at home, most likely with a good book and a warm blanket, enjoying the quiet evening. It wasn’t the first thing she would have decided on if she had a choice, she always preferred to be with people she loved in this time of year, but she didn’t have much of a choice.

She made her way to the kitchen, her bare feet making soft noises against the wooden floor as she went. Looking around the living room, she decided to turn on the lights they put up the day before, as well as the lights on the tree, and then deciding to light one of the candles too. She took a look behind the window as she walked to the kitchen counter but couldn’t see much. Snow was falling much more heavily now, nowhere near the delicate sprinkle that she experienced as she was walking back home. The world was slowly disappearing behind the thick curtain of white, making her feel as though she was on top of the world, all alone, not disturbed by all the troubles that she left behind the door when she came home.

Sitting down with a steaming cup of tea, she started going over her game plan. She wanted to bake something for her friends to take with them for the holidays and some festive food for herself, determined to make the Christmas feel like Christmas, even if only a little bit. She got up, prepared all the ingredients she needed and got to work. Time seemed to fly the more she got done, and she wouldn’t even have noticed that the afternoon turned into an evening if it wasn’t for the doorbell that broke through the silence. She grabbed the hand towel and walked over to answer it. Claire’s eyes didn’t focus on the door, instead observing the situation in the kitchen. Her hand grabbed the handle, opening the front door slowly.

“Do you always greet people with flour in your hair?” Ethan’s voice dripped with sarcasm, making her head whip around to look at him. He was the last person she expected to see that evening. She noticed the way his eyes dragged up and down her body, taking in the way she looked, before coming back to her eyes, spark of amusement in them.

“Dr. Ramsey! What are you doing here?” she exclaimed, dropping the piece of material she was holding. Too surprised to pick it up, she left it where it was, staring at him with wide eyes. He sighed heavily, leaning down to pick it up, snickering at the flour that flew into the air when he folded it into a neat square.

“I’m here to pick you up for a party.”

“In that case, I’m terribly sorry I didn’t put my dress on.” she smirked, raising her eyebrow at him. Their eyes fought for a while, seeing who would look away first. She won. “Seriously, though, what are you doing here?”

“You left those in my office.” He lifted a handful of files, his face straight, expressionless. “I know it’s Christmas and you most probably won’t even look at them, but I thought you might need them later on, so just in case…”

She nodded, taking them from him, their fingers brushing against one another for a split second. She felt a spark run up her arm, barely there, but enough to make her startled. Neither of them said anything, just stood there wordlessly for a long moment. After a while, she seemed to have snapped out of a dreamlike haze, turning around to look outside the window. The snow was still falling heavily, seemingly even worse than before.

“Thank you for the files, Dr. Ramsey.” She spoke softly, a hint of a smile on his face as he took a step to say goodbye and leave. She called out after him, noticing how his shoulders tensed as he heard her voice again. “I don’t want to say anything, but it seems as though the storm is picking up and I would not be comfortable with letting you go out into that mess. Who will take over the diagnostic team if you freeze out there?”

Her giggle was what finally caused him to turn around, a ghost of a smirk on his lips. He walked back to her side, watching her for a moment before getting inside, letting the door fall shut behind them. The warmth engulfed him like a blanket as he sat down in the kitchen, leaving the towel he was still holding on the counter. Claire went back to work, kneading the dough in the bowl for a while before dunking it out onto the flat surface.

“So, how was- uh, your day?” she asked, panting as she worked, force she was using making her a little tired.

“Wow, Rookie, your hospitality is one for the books.” He laughed, leaning forward, resting on his elbows. “It’s been long and tiring, as it is every year. Christmas songs should have a limit of how many times one can play it a day.”

“That bad, huh? And my hospitality is amazing, thank you very much. I would have offered you something to drink or eat, but I really needed to finish the dough so it can rise.” She scrunched her nose at him playfully, grabbing the towel he left and covering the dough with it. She sighed softly, training her eyes on him. “Okay, you have my full attention now. Did you come here by car?”

“And just why would you like to know that?” he asked, surprised by her question. He watched her as she walked to the other side of the kitchen, opening the cabinet.

“I have some wine that is best when it’s hot, and I think you’d like it, but I’m not going to give you alcohol if you have a car to drive later.” She explained, looking away from the shelf before her and back to him.

“In that case, I came by a taxi, so by all means…” he waved his hand, the corners of his lips lifting just the tiniest bit. Claire nodded, standing on her tiptoes to reach the top shelf, taking the bottle into her hands. He noticed how relaxed she was, moving around the kitchen with ease. It’s been a while since he last saw her like that, and it was a sight he welcomed eagerly. While he remained seated, she poured the liquid into the pot, adding a few spices and letting it warm up. Humming under her breath, she danced around the kitchen a little, almost as though Ethan wasn’t even there, giving him a first-row view of her being carefree. Claire poured the wine into two glasses, passing him one of them and then going back to work.

“Thank you.” he wrapped his fingers around the warm glass, running his eyes over the many dishes she had already finished. “What exactly are you doing?”

“Cooking. Baking. Drinking wine. Answering obvious questions from my boss.” She smirked, locking her eyes with his as she took a sip of her drink. He held her gaze for a moment before standing up from his seat, taking a short look around the space that surrounded him. With her permission, he went into the living room to do some exploring. As he was looking at the Christmas tree, he asked.

“Very funny, Rookie. I’m serious, though. Why are you here, cooking the amount of food that could feed an army?”

“I’m cooking for my friends and for myself. I do have to eat something for the next three days, and now that you’re here, I’ll send you home with some of the food too.” She answered, already looking for some sort of a container to pack the food for him. He opened his mouth to protest, but she already held her hand up, stopping him before he said anything. “There is no way you’re leaving here without food. It would be against my nature and my genes would most likely combust if I don’t show enough hospitality.” She laughed, walking to the fridge to fetch a bowl with filling for the cake she was making.

“What could you possibly mean by that?”

“My family is Polish, I would literally die if I didn’t give you food to take home with you. That’s just how it is, no use in arguing about it.” she revealed, her accent suddenly hard, completely different from what he was used to. While he was in a state of shock, she began rolling out the dough and spreading the filling for it.

“How is it that I’m finding out about it just now?”

“Well, we never really talked about anything like that, it never came up before. Ugh, I should have listened to my Mom.” She answered and then moaned immediately after as she stared at the cake before her.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, walking over to her, confused. She moved to the side, letting him stand next to her. “What kind of cake is that supposed to be?”

“Poppy seed cake. It’s a traditional Christmas cake in Poland, and that recipe is my Mom’s. She did mention that it would be hard for me to do, as it is my first time doing it, but I didn’t think it would be _that_ hard.” Claire explained, leaning onto the counter with defeat spelled across her face.

“What do you need to do?”

“Roll it up, tight enough so that when it bakes, there are no big pockets of air in between layers. Which is going to be impossible to do, so I might as well just give up.” she shook her head, rubbing her forehead with her fingers.

“Okay, let’s see what we can do.” Ethan muttered under his breath, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up. Claire stared at him with wide eyes, confused and definitely shocked at his willingness and eagerness to help her.

“You know how to bake?”

“Not exactly, but I’m sure we can figure out something together.” He stopped in his tracks, trying to think of the best way to get to it, before finally deciding that the most effective way to roll up the cake would be to stand behind her, his arms on either side of her. He embraced her gently, leaving space for her to push him away, and for a moment he thought she just might do that. Her whole body tensed the moment he touched her, and the sensation almost made him step away, but then she relaxed a bit, letting him come a bit closer, their hands next to each other. Working together, they managed to get the cake done, moved to the baking sheet and put it into the oven. Claire turned around to thank him, only to see him already looking at her, a spark in his eye being almost playful.

“You have some flour… here-“ He reached towards her with his hand, brushing her cheek delicately. His touch lingered for a long time, his gaze softening. She noticed a smudge of flour on the tip of his nose and reached for him too, swiping her fingers over it slowly. Their eyes met finally met, intense and deep with unspoken words and feelings, left to hang in the air around them.

“Claire…” he muttered under his breath, leaning towards her just a little bit, his lips tingling with anticipation. She seemed to begin doing it too, despite herself, wanting nothing more to feel him again, even if only for a short moment.

“Claire, I’m back! You better have that cake for me or I’ll be very- oh. Hi, Dr. Ramsey!” Sienna’s cheerful voice made them jump away from each other as though they got burned, standing on the opposite ends of the counter. She looked between the pair, a hint of a smirk playing on her face.

“The cake is, uh, almost done baking. Everything else is ready for you to pack.” Claire answered, refusing to look at Ethan again.

“Great! So, what are you doing this Christmas, Dr. Ramsey? Any plans, if I may ask?” Sienna asked, digging into her bag, searching for god only knew what. Ethan cleared his throat, drumming his fingers against the flat surface beneath them.

“I’m staying at home. Naveen gave me a few days off, I’ll spend it with Jenner.” He said, his voice back to the emotionless one that he used at work.

“Oh! So is Claire! You’re staying at home, right?” she turned to her best friend, only to see Claire’s eyes already on her, daggers practically flying her way.

“…Yes.”

Sienna didn’t say anything else for a while, finally finding what she was looking for. Using a moment of distraction, she threw something right at them. They both saw it at the same time, taking a step towards each other to avoid getting hit by the object. The said thing flew over their heads, a clean arch above them, before falling to the ground on the other side of the room. Claire turned to see what that was and as soon as she realized what Sienna did, she blushed a deep shade of red, killing her friend with her eyes once more.

“Rookie, what was tha- _oh_.” Ethan started speaking, only to be cut off by the sight of a small bundle of mistletoe, lying on the ground. Only moments ago, it was flying above them, and now it was right there, leaving them in a rather difficult position.

“Sienna, I don’t know what you wanted to achieve, but it doesn’t work like that.” Claire tried to find them a way out of a situation, but Sienna didn’t let her finish.

“No, no, no. Was it over your heads? Then it counts. Now come on, kiss already.” She giggled, shaking her head at how childish they were acting. It was just a kiss. Of course, Sienna knew that for these two, it wasn’t just a kiss, but she wasn’t about to let them get away from it.

Claire thought she was about to die, any moment now. Ethan’s eyes were staring at her intensively, just as unsure of what to do as she was. They both knew that there was nothing that Sienna could do to make them kiss, really, but the idea was very potent, and the opportunity presented itself. They were standing so close to each other that all she had to do was tilt her head upwards a little, and he had to bend down just a bit, and their lips would brush against one another. And that’s exactly what happened a few seconds later.

It somehow was better than either of them remembered it to be. It could, of course, have been the added factor of longing and the distance they kept between each other for the past few months, it could have been the undeniable chemistry that she always felt when he was near. It could have been the spirit of Christmas, or the risk factor that made their blood rush through their bodies quicker. Regardless of the reasons behind her strong reaction, she was almost certain that if she were to step away from him right this second, her knees would buckle underneath her and she would fall to the ground. Their hands, hanging by their sides, found each other, fingers tangling together and holding on for dear life. After what could have been mere seconds or millions of eternities, they leaned away from each other, their eyes once more locked in an intense stare that made their storm of emotions even more complicated and even more intense. Claire was breathing heavily, still holding his hand, and was about to say something when the timer on the oven went off, startling them both, throwing them back into the reality.

“Um… thank you for your help with baking. I don’t think I could have done it without you.” she whispered before moving to get the cake out of the oven, letting it cool down as she prepared the rest of the food for him to take home. A quick look out the window revealed that the snowstorm has died down and it was safe for him to go back home now. He grabbed his coat and walked towards the door, taking the package from her hands when she handed it to him.

“No point in arguing, right?” he asked with a slight smirk, looking at her one last time. She shook her head with a ghost of a smile.

“No.”

He was about to say something more, but ultimately decided against it. Nodding his head, he moved to leave, turning around by the door.

“Merry Christmas, Claire.”

“Merry Christmas, Ethan.”

The door separated them and Claire was once more alone. Sienna left to get her bags, letting Claire have a moment to process what had happened. She would be lying if she said that the thought of Ethan’s lips on hers wasn’t haunting her dreams. Now that she tasted him again, she felt the hunger that she was sure has been pushed aside and quieted months ago. Turns out, the feelings she had for him never went away, and now they came back to hit her twice as hard. With a wistful smile, she walked to the tree in the middle of the room, watching the lights flickering in the dim light. Her eyes caught the glimpse of something lying underneath it, a small box, wrapped with expertise and care. _Ethan._

She picked it up, moving to sit on the couch, startled and speechless. She could pinpoint the exact moment in which he must have left it there, and a wide grin made its way onto her lips as she pulled the ribbon to open it. A small card was inside, along with the smallest piece of mistletoe she had ever seen.

_If you find yourself alone this Christmas, you know where to find me._

She doesn’t remember the last time she got dressed so quickly, and she prayed that the taxi would not get stuck in traffic. Twenty minutes later, she was standing before the door to his apartment, looking into his eyes.

“Rookie.” He whispered, smiling at her gently. She smirked, holding up a piece of mistletoe he gave her, as high above their heads as possible.

“I heard that I could find someone here to spend my Christmas with.” She teased and he laughed, taking a step towards her, his hand running up and down her side.

“That would appear to be correct. But what made you come here?” he whispered, looking into her eyes curiously. She took one final step, their lips brushing together when she answered.

“Did you honestly expect me to stay away from you after a kiss like that?” Claire’s voice was low and filled with longing, so much more intense than he’s heard it in a while. Ethan wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush against his chest, speaking final words before kissing her properly, dragging her into his apartment.

“I can give you so much more.”


End file.
